Usage of E Networking Sites at Workplace: An Empirical Study

 

Prof. Ritu Gandhi Arora

Department of Management Studies, DAV Institute of Management, Faridabad.

 

ABSTRACT:

In today’s aggressive business environment, the challenge of sustaining competitive advantage pre-occupies the minds of most business and government leaders. It has become common practice that internet executives are spending far more time on recruiting than they ever did in the old economy, and they worry far more about how to keep the talent once won. The intensity of this concern has become even greater since April, 2000, when the deluge of investment funding dried to a trickle. E managers are now painfully aware that they must be able to motivate people to come, to stay and to make great contributions. The main objective of this paper is to explore the role of social networking sites e.g. face book, linked. In etc. on employee performance which includes skills, productivity and knowledge of employees and influence of social media on performance of generation Y. Using a sample of 125 professionals this study attempts to review and analyze the effect of rising use of social Networking sites on employee’s performance i.e. skills, knowledge, productivity and its influence on retention of Generation Y.  The result of the study shows that the Results show that there is a positive correlation between all the parameters of employees’ performance i.e. skills of employees, their productivity and knowledge. Also social learning is rapidly gaining precedence as preferred learning practice in organizations. Gen Y prefers relationship building with peers and supervisors which can be achieved through social media-enabled interactive conversations which help in building supportive culture and improves their stay in organization.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Social Networking is an online medium through which people interacts with each other and build their relations, share ideas, information and try to create a sentimental bond. E- Networking has made a tremendeaous growth in this today’s environment. People are using these sites for catharsis of their human emotions.

 

Different persons use different sites for different reasons like: people connect on linked-In for professional purpose, Face book for personal reason, Twitter for social networking and Write personal blogs for sharing their ideas, thoughts and viewpoints. Now a days even most of the organizations have started using E Networking sites for their professional benefit like creating employee relationships. So it becomes the need of the time for the organizations to design workforce according to changing environment. In its progression, talent has also shrug off its traditional, loyal and non assertive role in 21^st century. Change, transition, transformation and settling down to the new ways of doing business and running an enterprise were possible and achieved only through this talent recruitment and retention. Today, the organizations all over the world have realized and seen from close quarters the true power and contribution of talent to their success, growth and prosperity. Consequently, every organization is striving to ensure sufficient pressure of the talented among its ranks that will successfully manoeuvre the organization through turbulent times to avoid being unsure and nervous about their future and existence. The realization and recognition, which was long overdue to talent as the basic differentiator in making or marring of enterprise was thus well established. To meet this challenge organizations have started understanding the dynamics and demographics of today’s employees which comprises of four different generations for e.g. Gen Y (Born Between 1990- present, approximate current age under 30), Gen X (Born Between 1975-1990, late 20s to early 30s), Baby Boomers (1965-1975, early 40s to mid 50s), Veterans (1950 or early 1960s, 60+ ). It is also estimated the more than 50% of the future working generation of India will constitute Gen Y by the year 2020 and 75% of global workforce by 2030. Gen Y is known to be the toughest generation to retain. Research study by Schwable (2012) clearly states that every third surveyed company shows that 15% of generation Y employees leave company within a year of appointment. Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to develop strategies to retain and maintain employees failing which will lead to low return on investment and lagging behind the competitors. Till date the strategies developed by organizations proved less effective in retaining employees as generation Y is different in terms of values, expectations, and career expectations. Hence, it is difficult to retain this generation with traditional HR strategies. So the developing trend of communication i.e. social media can be used as one of the medium to retain them and make them happy at workplace. This media have remarkable potential to connect and engage with people in an interactive manner. Moreover, Gen Y is tech-savvy, is active on social media all the time also expect its access at their workplace also. Social media became popular between 2004 and 2006, when Face book, You Tube blogs, Twitter, My Space and Linked-In were created. These are the major social networking sites in common use. Facebook, Introduced in February 2004, is one of the most popular social networking websites today. This website was originally open only to students at Harvard University, but this no longer holds true. Facebook has reached a membership of over 200 million. Linked-In was started in May 2003, and is less focused on social networking. This tool is used to network within a desired professional atmosphere and allows individuals to build professional, career-oriented relationships. “Linked-In is the most business-oriented of the four big social networking websites” (Wilson, 2009). Linked-In has a membership of about 36 million. MySpace was started in August 2003. It is more directed toward the musically inclined. This social networking website is no longer solely for social networking. It is more about connecting different bands and groups, rather than connecting individuals. The membership for MySpace is about 126 million. Joining the social networking trend in March 2006, Twitter is the most immediate of the four big social networking websites. It has become a self-promotional tool used by celebrities. For those who like to “follow” their favorite celebrities, they can get instant updates about where their favorite singer or actor is, what they are doing, how they are feeling, etc. Twitter has around 10 million members. A social networking site is an online service platform, which emphasizes on building and creating of social networks among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user (known as profile), his/her social links, and a various other types of services. Most of the social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, through e-mail and messaging. Online community services are also considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centric service whereas online community services are group-centric. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, news, events, and interests within their individual networks. The main types of social networking services are those which includes category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (through self-description pages), and a recommendation system linked to trust. In short, Social networking is an interconnected system through which alliances are formed, help is obtained, information is transmitted, and actions taken to achieve certain results. The increasing popularity of social networking sites and their use at the workplace develop some concerns for employers, but employers are feeling helpless to prevent its usage during work hours. As an alternative to an attempt to prohibit their use, this research leads to the recommendation that employers make use of social networks instead. A positive use of networking sites would be to use them as a tool of communication between management and its employees to ensure that employees are productive but not overworked and stressed. Another possible use could be as marketing tools. If businesses need to work with social networking websites, they should have a policy on use of social networking in the workplace. This recommendation is based on the assumptions that use of social networking in the workplace continues to increase and that internet security will never be perfect in filtering personal or business information on social networks. The extent of this problem is ongoing and impossible to predict.  It is a known fact that today’s young generation is updated with the use of latest technologies and hence it is obvious that modern organizations incorporate use of social media for talent management i.e. to enhance their on the Job performance.

 

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

For the study purpose literature is divided in to two parts. Part one deals with importance of social media for generation Y, and part two deals with various studies related to demographic profiles of generation Y employees using social media and its impact on employees’ on the job performance.

 

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GEN Y:

The term ‘Generation Y’ means the generation born in 20^th century (Between 1990-Present). The term was introduced in 1993 by Advertising Age as the last generation; this generation represents youngest members of the workforce globally. This term is also known as, Generation Next, Neters, Echo Boomers, the Millennium Generation, Millennial, Net Generation, Nexters, and Digital Generation. This most recent entrants to the workforce grew up during prosperous times but find themselves entering a post boom economy. Gone are the days of hiring bonuses and abundant jobs. Now they face insecurity about jobs and careers. Yet they have high expectations and seek meaning of their work. Nexters are at ease with diversity and are the first generation to take technology for granted. They have lived much of their lives with ATMs, DVDs, cell phones, laptops, and Internet (Sanghi, 2008) Most of the research studies are focused on generation Y, most of the organizations are talking about its retention but there has been little academic work done to retain this generation. Various studies and industrial publications have discovered the importance of social media to Gen Y. At a time when millennium generation work values are decreasing social media’s prominence in their lives is rapidly increasing. A survey reveals that 80% nexters have an account on social media, while 54% of these use it as a way of killing time (Twenge, 2010).  Facebook was named as the site with the most awareness, followed by Twitter, Google+ and My Space (Meese, 2013) and 58% said they use Twitter all the time (Walter, 2012).  Research studies points that 42% of Gen Y checks their Facebook updates more than ten times a day, 73% spend more than one hour a day on Facebook. World Technology Report (2012) by Cisco reveals that out of 2,800 Gen Y members, from 17 countries, roughly 33% give top priority to social media freedom, while accepting a job offer and 64% of college students enquire about social media usage policies during job interviews (Woods, 2011). These results further authenticate the inclination of Gen Y towards these tools.

 

EMPLOYEE RETENTION:

Retention refers to keeping employees in organization for longer period of time; it includes policies and strategies which companies use to prevent top-performing employees from leaving their jobs. It involves making strategies to encourage employees to stay within organization. Managing retention is defined as "a collection of HR practices that organizations develop to reduce voluntary turnover rates". Retention has become a top priority for HR as organization growth and survival invariably depends on its workforce. Moreover, employee turnover is costly as employees, while leaving take away valuable knowledge and their replacement put financial burden on the organization. Retaining Gen Y employees is a significant challenge as they are low on loyalty and are least engaged workforce globally. A study by Anderson in year 2011, which involves 30,000 employees in 29 countries showed that only 21% of workers between the ages of 18 and 29 reported being ‘highly engaged’ compared with 31% of highly engaged workers in older age segment. Moreover, Gen Y does hops job very often (Kim, Knightand and Crutsinger, 2009). As a result, this generation forces employers to rethink of retention strategy. Although, retention has been widely studied in academic and practitioner world at different levels, but no study has been done on relation between social networking sites and employee retention that too in specific context to Generation Y.

 

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Employers are worried in regard to use of social networking sites at workplace: perceived loss in staff productivity, data leakage from staff gossiping freely in an open environment, damage to a company’s reputation, scams practiced by “cyber crooks,” and the open access to company information because of outdated passwords. It is definitely a matter of concern for the management and corporate executive officers that employees spend time on these websites while at work and may damage the company’s reputation that can be brought about by posts online. A possible use of social networking sites for management could be to ensure that employees are productive but not overworked. Employers can always use it as a marketing tool. Social networking is a consistent system through which alliances are formed, help is obtained, information is transmitted, and actions taken to achieve certain results. If businesses need to work with social networking websites, as seems likely, they should have a policy on social networking in the workplace.

 

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

The purpose of this research is:

1.        To review and analyze the effect of rising use of social Networking sites on employee’s performance i.e. skills, knowledge, productivity;

2.        To study the influence of social media on Generation Y retention.

 

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS:

To achieve the objective of the study following hypothesis were drawn:

 

H1:

Use of social networking sites affects employee performance in terms of their skills, knowledge and productivity.

 

H0:

Use of social networking sites at workplace does not affect employee performance.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The study has been conducted both ways- in the form of an interview method and questionnaire method. Interview method was used to draw the information on different aspects of the research problem. Interview was divided in to two parts: part one deals with the questions related to use of social networking site (SNS), and part two deals with the questions related to impact of social media on performance through variables like knowledge, skills, and productivity. For data collection probability sampling method was used.  The questionnaire was structured and containing close ended questions. Part 1 of the Questionnaire deals with Demographic Profile of the respondents and the second part deals with the questions related to Usage of E Networking sites and its impact on the performance of the employees through different parameters selected to measure the same were taken as knowledge, skills and productivity. Data was analyzed using SPSS 19.0. Significance of the questionnaire was checked, reliability of the scale was counted. Correlation analysis was applied for results.

 

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS:

Demographic Analysis:

The respondents were between 20-40 years of age. Out of the total sample the respondents were found to be in the ratio of 56:44 percent on gender basis i.e. the majority of the respondents were male. 60 percent of the respondents were Post Graduates and 34 percent were simply graduates whereas only 6 percent were diploma holders. Total work experience of the respondents was also divided in to four categories with 32 percent falling in to the category of 3-5 years of experience, of which maximum 44 percent had an experience of between 1-3 years. Further only 6 percent had less than one year experience and rest had more than 5 years of experience.

 

Objective 1: Effect of rising use of social Networking sites on employee performance:

Correlation Analysis of the Data:

Table 1 shows the correlation measurement between usage of social networking sites and employees’ skills, knowledge and productivity. Results show that there is a positive correlation between all the parameters of employees’ performance. The results were significant at the level of 0.01-0.05 between social networking and skills of employees, their productivity and knowledge. Correlation results between social networking sites and employees’ skills is .684 (Sig. level= 0.000), between knowledge and networking sites it is .460 (Sig. level= 0.000) and between productivity and networking sites it is .348 (Sig. level .006).

 

Table 1: Demographic Analysis

Source: Primary Data

 

The results indicate that correlation between dependent and independent variables are strongly positive and all parameters are highly correlated as far as their relationship is concerned in terms of usage of social networking sites. It is further stated that with little efforts from employer side this correlation can be improved. These results clearly support the hypothesis of the study.

 

Table 2: Correlation of Social Networking Sites with Skills, Knowledge and Productivity

 

Influence of Social Media Tools on Gen Y Employees:

Employees’ Perspective:

Web enabled business processes such as e commerce and tele /video conferencing symbolizes the times we live in. For instance, it took 13 years for television and 38 years for radio to reach 50 million people- it has taken the internet barely four years to do so. It is difficult to imagine that every day, the Sprint network electronically transmits the data equivalent to 17 million books in the US library of Congress and that by 2017, it’s predicted that voice data will be only two percent of the total electronic traffic carried. Research studies clearly shows that it is very difficult to maintain performance of new age employees just with lucrative salaries, perks and other benefits as they have more career options available in the job market, more flexibility, shorter job tenures, and follow new rules of psychological contact that replace loyalty and job security with multi-skilling and mobility. They have high aspirations from life and they want to achieve everything very fast so require innovative ways to be retained. In order to respond to this transformation, organizations should adopt social media approach to performance management. This approach requires deep understanding of every touch-point where Gen Y’s expectations and demands are realized. It is a continuous process of interacting with employees where different capabilities of social media are leveraged to actively engage and thus retain them. Gen Y is development oriented, technology savvy, recognition seeking, has desire for feedback and also a team oriented. Social media tools satisfy their all expectations by offering an accessible, open medium for content sharing, communication and relationship building. Besides, they facilitate HR interventions including Learning and Development (LandD) programs, relationship building, recognition programs, internal communication, employer branding and career management. Gen Y prefers hands-on, team-based and informal learning and wants self-paced modules with personalized content. Organizations can use tools like help chats, videos, teaching communities, blogs, wikis, discussion boards and intranets to effectively train and engage employees. Besides, social learning is rapidly gaining precedence as preferred learning practice in organizations. Additionally, they can also conduct social mentoring which provides informational support to young employees. Tools like Internal blogs, Face Book and Linked-In can be used by mentees and mentors alike to continuously connect and share expertise. Gen Y prefers relationship building with peers and supervisors which can be achieved through social media-enabled interactive conversations. Companies can involve with Gen Y on these sites, wishing them on their birthday or anniversary, appreciating their competencies, drafting appreciations. This helps in creating emotional bond among employees and their bosses; this will make them realize that company do value and care for them and instill a sense of belongingness and psychological attachment. Peer-to-peer forums, discussion groups, internal employee blogs and social Intranets can foster deeper relationships. Further, as per Maslow’s theory of motivation esteem or appreciation is an inherent human need and a basic motivational factor. Gen Y is no exception. Organizations can fulfill this need by providing a platform that makes their achievements more visible. For instance, organizations can utilize information distribution potential of social media to organize Rewards and Recognition programs go live where many people can involve. Additionally, it will lead to personal branding of employees as they get to demonstrate their accomplishments and true value to others which further aids in their retention. Personal branding appeals more to Gen Y as they seek opportunities to boast their contributions. Publicly recognizing achievements of employees through social media is powerful tool to reward them and boost their morale. According to some respondents, social media tools act as an internal communication medium by enabling two-way or even multi-way conversations. Sound internal communication and timely access of information are highly significant for Gen Y as they tend to be updated always.

 

EMPLOYERS, PERSPECTIVE:

Managers are equipped with tools like blogs, social intranets, internal networking sites to give employees clear objectives aligned with organizational goals that boost employee satisfaction. Managers are trying hard to strengthen Gen Y’s pursuit for continuous feedback by fast and efficient communication channels offered by social media. Information Technology giant IBM has been successfully using social media technology for continuous communication and real-time information exchange. It has an internal social networking tool called Beehive and several blogs for its employees where they can share their views and give suggestions also related to various policies and plans of the company. Gen Y employees are brand-savvy; they always want to be associated with reputed brands, aspire to be identified with and work for big and reputed brands. They want similarity between their personal values and organization values and here social media acts as a bridge to create and promote employer brands both externally and internally, thus making a persuasive case for Gen Y attraction and retention respectively. Most of the big companies like Reliance, Infosys, Genpact etc. uses social media sites to attract college students and recent graduates through its Facebook page dedicated to career related information for prospects. Social media tools help employees to draw their own career paths and manage their career progression and growth. This is in parlance to new psychological contract wherein employees are solely responsible for their own careers; a trend famous among Gen Y employees. Interactive internal recruitment tools, wikis and blogs help in internal mobility programs by providing internal Job Postings (IJPs), this  demonstrate organization has career paths for employees and also enhances their loyalty towards organization. In accordance to Gen Y psychological profile, the conceptual framework explains how using social media leads to performance management. As Gen Y needs are fulfilled by social media-enabled HR strategies, it will develop their perception about organization support and technological support levels, which in return translate into positive outcomes i.e. higher satisfaction, engagement and retention. In other words, as their workplace needs and expectations are met, they feel motivated, put greater efforts to perform better thereby, feeling more satisfied with their work which in turn improves employee engagement and as an end result employee performance will improve which definitely in returns improves their retention rate in concerned organization.

 

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS:

Exploring the present issue has a major implication; especially it carries the interest of HR department, HR learners and practitioners who have concern for employees’ performance and their retention. First employers should concentrate on employees’ behavior towards using E Networking. They can design their training programmes according to habits of using these networking sites by their employees. Employers can make Face Book page and use it for training purpose, even can start a blog and ask its employees to share their views. Employers should also develop a right attitude in its employees for using social network and should be taken as positive and ethical medium of social communication. It is evident from the research that social media tools are gaining ground in HR domain. HR practitioners are using social media sites to drive employee engagement and improved performance. The reason behind is to use social media in employee retention and the strongest driving force behind such a strategy is technological indulgence of this generation. Most of this generation is already active on such platforms for personal use, and hence want their access at workplace too. For effective management of talent specifically Gen Y, capabilities of contributing and sharing user-generated content, accessibility and openness can be exploited to better engage and retain this generation. On top of it, adopting a technology-enabled approach goes well with the strengths of this tech-savvy generation. Therefore it is bound to reap rich benefits. Further, considering the current war for talent, an organization cannot sustain if it fails to retain this future workforce simply due to lack of technological access. One-size-fits-all approach is becoming ineffective. Organizations should be receptive to generational characteristics and implement strategies accordingly. In lieu of it, organizations must improve their social media footprints to better manage young generation employees.

 

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE:

The present study is theoretical in nature and proposes a conceptual framework. The study have selected only three parameters to judge the impact of E networking on employees’ performance i.e. skills, knowledge and productivity. There could be other contributing factors also. Social media is still an emerging phenomenon and further studies are required to investigate these relationships over a longer period of time. This paper serves a stepping stone for future research on social media from HR perspective. While the study’s contributions are significant, it has some limitations which can be addressed in future research. Firstly, conduct empirical examination of role of social media on employee performance. Secondly, utilizing similar strategies for retaining prospective Generation Z employees, who will become part of workforce in coming years?

 

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